Some Thoughts for Tuesday

 If ItWeren’t for Bad Luck I’d Have No Luck At All

Bob Hill
Staff writer

Every handicapper knows that luck plays a role in ones success in betting on horses.  What Santa Anita is living through right now is like having every bet you make go down to crazy things like equipment failure on your 2-5 favorite and second place photo finishes when you have the exacta – unboxed.

The washout of the Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita last Saturday was not particularly good news to the connections of the lightly-raced three-year-olds they are trying to get or keep on the trail to the 2010 Kentucky Derby.  We now know that Bob Baffert, who has a barn full of prospects, is trying to decide which one of his good ones to ship to Oaklawn Park to run in next Monday’s holiday edition of the Southwest Stakes.  That race is one mile on dirt, and Baffert appears determined to get his top trainees a race or two on a surface similar to the one at Churchill Downs.  Baffert is expected to ship either Tiz Chrome or Conveyance to Oaklawn on a plane that will depart California on Wednesday.  If he sends Tiz Chrome, the Robert Lewis will lose one of its stars.

John Sadler also is considering shipping a horse out of the original seven-horse field drawn for the Robert Lewis when it was carded for last weekend to Oaklawn for the Southwest.  Like Baffert, he has two entered in the Lewis, so if he ships Domonation to Oaklawn he will still have Dave in Dixie to go in what now is shaping up to be a very short field at Santa Anita.

You Must Be Kidding Me

I for one thought among the best stories of 2009 was the training job turned in by Tim Ice with little known Summer Bird.  That one went on to win the Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup.  If I owned that horse it would be hard for me to consider moving him elsewhere.  K.K. Jayaraman, who does own Summer Bird, however, is notorious for moving his horses from barn to barn, and on Tuesday morning he moved his entire 24-horse group in Ice’s care to other Oaklawn-based trainers.  Summer Bird went to the barn of Tim Ritchey, whose claim to fame is being the trainer of Afleet Alex.  Ice’s barn was reduced to six horses, nearly putting him out of business.

Ice was the consummate gentleman in his remarks in which he wished all the best to the horse.  I continually am amazed by the decisions made by some owners, and I would love to hear what this is about. 

A long time ago I learned a lesson at the craps table.  That lesson is that there is little or no correlation between the color of the chips one throws on the table and his understanding of the game.  I suspect that the same is true of people who own horses!